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Many people ask, why give a public invitation? This was a stumbling block to me for a while, I must confess. And I would like to acknowledge in passing that so-called "mass evangelism" has deficits and assets. One deficit is this: People go to the meetings, they hear the beautiful singing, they are wonderfully lifted up in spirit, the preacher stands up and shouts and pounds the pulpit—and then they go back to church and wonder why church service is not the same.

I explain carefully in my preaching that the worship service is more important than the evangelistic service. The holiest moment is when we come to the Communion Table, for that is worship of God; it is his Church at worship. Ours is an evangelistic service to reach those outside the Church as well as those on the fringe of the Church. These are two different things, and the worship service is most important.

Nonetheless, it might do the people good if ministers started pounding the pulpit a bit. A lady said to me in San Francisco: "Mr. Graham, you know my preacher is preaching new sermons since you came. You really helped him." I said, "Madam, did you come forward?" She said, "Oh, yes." I said, "Could it be that you are listening with different ears, and that he's preaching the same sermons?" She said, "I hadn't thought about that. That may be."

Moses gave an invitation in Exodus 32:26 when he said, "Who is on the Lord's side? Let him come unto me." That was public invitation. Joshua gave an invitation: "Choose you this day whom ye will serve." King Josiah gave a public invitation when he called on the assembly of the people, after the Book of the Law had been found and read to them, to stand in assent to the keeping of the Law. Ezra called upon the people to swear publicly to carry out his reformation.

Jesus gave many public invitations. He said to Peter and Andrew, "Follow me and I will make you fishers of men." He said to Matthew, "Follow me," and the latter rose and followed him. Jesus invited Zaccheus publicly to come down out of the tree. "Zaccheus make haste, come down for today I will abide in your house." Jesus told the parable of the slighted dinner invitation where the lord said to his servant: "Go out into the highways and hedges and compel them to come in, that my house may be full." The Apostles gave invitations.

The method of invitation we use is of comparatively recent origin, but the spirit and principle of the evangelistic invitation is, in my opinion, as old as the Bible itself. George Whitefield and John Wesley used to give public invitations, as did most of the evangelists. However, the modern inquiry room that we use with personal counseling (we coined the term "counseling" instead of personal workers) was not used so far as I can discover until 1817 when Ashland Middleton began using it. D. L. Moody made it popular and used it continually in his meetings; and when he would give an invitation, he would ask people to make their way not to the front but straight to a room. There he would go and speak to them all.

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October (Web-only) 2008, Vol. 52